SMART CITY ECOSYSTEM: ELEMENTS OF CONCEPT, COORDINATION CHALLENGES AND FUNDING MECHANISMS IN RUSSIA

Abstract

The article deals with the content and evolution of the concept of a smart city. The author identifies the role of the smart city concept as the theoretical foundation for the research into the ecosystem. The significance of standardization is shown as it is a condition for coordinating the interaction of numerous ecosystem members. The author puts forward and confirms the hypothesis on the need to build a standardized ecosystem of the smart city centered around information technologies that determine the economic value of digital infrastructure for city residents which leads to understanding the pattern of expecting returns from investments into digital infrastructure facilities. The characteristics of the smart city funding model are revealed: the state's use, along with budgetary allocations, of indirect support measures through tax preferences and social technologies, direct measures through grants and subsidies, as well as the attraction of private investment through public-private partnerships. The models of return on investment are systematized within various forms of interaction between business and the state. The results of the study can be applied to bolster business activity in terms of including the smart city program based on the principles of publicprivate partnership.